Payments overview: changing regulations, technology and players

A report published by Limonetik, a company that provides an online payments platform to e-traders, looks at emerging financial services and discusses new applications, processes, products and business models.

Zoom into Payments is a useful introduction to the current developments and direction of the online payments industry, giving an overview of the advances in technology and regulation. It explains the main changes effected by the Payment Service Directives (1 + 2) and the differing roles of three types of banking institutions (traditional banks, e-money issuers and payment institutions), as defined by the legislation. It also breaks down the various actions involved in the three payment steps of paying in, collections & reconciliation, and settlement & paying out.

The report also gives an overview of the areas in which different market players, both payment service providers (PSPs) and acquirers, are active. The matrixes below show the range of services offered:

The report includes a directory of PSPs and acquirers.

CTMfile take: This report could be a useful primer for anyone new to the payments market who wants to get an overview of regulations, technology and players.